Japanese Research Institute Blames Scientist For Manipulating Data On Stem Cells Creation

A panel of Japanese investigators claim the data of valuable stem cells creation has been manipulated and also contains falsified information.

RIKEN, research institute of Japanese government, said on Tuesday the team has been through with an investigation into allegations of misconduct and found the images of DNA fragments were improperly altered by authors of the study.
Investigative panel head Shunsuke Ishii said at a press conference in capital Tokyo the manipulation was purposely done to give an improved image of the appearance of results.

Lead author of the study, Haruko Obokata, this year in January published two papers in Nature journal describing being able in creating STAP cells (stimulus triggered acquisition of pluripotency).

The research shocked the scientific world then and also raised hopes for simple means of creating stem cells with probability to be used in healing damaged organs, treat diseases and repair severed spinal cords.

Obokata didn’t attend the press conference, but says she cannot accept the findings of RIKEN as it is an unilaterally fabrication and tampering.

After the publication of Obokata’s study, an anonymous commentator on Internet claimed the images are manipulated and also some portions of the text seem copied from some other papers.

Also, one co-author of the study called the papers to be retracted.

Considering these, RIKEN ordered for an investigation.

President of RIKEN, Ryoji Noyori, blamed Obokata for misconduct and recommended one paper to be retracted.